Enhanced Performance & Overclocking

When looking at the Point of View version of the GeForce 8600 GTS, we somehow got the feeling that this card is capable of more. The looks and design suspect that this GTS has been designed to deliver stunning performance, but that some still have to be discovered. Since we are only at the point where the GeForce 8600 GTS has been released, we are wondering what will be done for the pre-overclocked versions that will soon get released. And well overclocking, unlocking the extra performance is exactly what we have done. And although the G84 core powering the GeForce 8600 GTS comes at only 1.35V and no voltage increase seems possible via a simple BIOS tweak...

Far Cry Results - 1280x1024 - E6300 2.80GHz - 2GB RAM
GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB (2x AA/4x AF)	Game Score
675/2000MHz (Reference)	83.27
720/2100MHz (Avg OverClock)	88.72
770/2250MHz (Max OverClock)	94.91
Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better.

In the end it all comes down to the gaming experience and the actual feeling you get out of it. So we actually used all our previous games but narrowed our report down to Far Cry to show our findings. And no this is not because Far Cry is better or worse, it actually was in between. When you apply some basic overclocking on the core and memory we noticed that the performance of the GeForce 8600 GTS is quite positively impacted. Raising these to the maximum stable clocks shows that it can surpass all expectations and crush the previous results. With some improved cooling you should be able to achieve even 800MHz core, but in our case that was only possible by applying some extra airflow.

Final Thoughts

There you go, the first mid-range graphics card that supports DirectX 10 and is ready for the upcoming game titles going for that technology. A fully renewed architecture, bringing the performance to the next level, delivering stunning image clarity and quality it is all present with the GeForce 8600 series. Yes indeed once again NVIDIA is the first to introduce a mid-range accelerator with the appropriate DirectX 10 support. The GeForce 8600 GT and GTS are the first GPU's at the $149-229 price point to provide full DirectX 10 support. Both cards are built using the same unified shader architecture that was introduced with the GeForce 8800 series. By leveraging off the same architecture, GeForce 8600 GPU's receive all the benefits in optimizations and compatibility work that developers have put into their game engines.

What is generally the most exciting part about the graphics card these days is without a doubt the overclocking ability. In that aspect we can say that this card has really struck us by the overclocking potential of the G84 graphics core. The Point of View GeForce 8600 GTS did manage to hit 770/2250MHz without any difficulties. Yes, more could be expected but due to the time constraint we haven't been able to tweak it much further. And make no mistake this was all achieved with the single slot reference cooler and no modifications done to the graphics card. So, the pre-overclocked version will certainly come in many shades and versions, and we expect to see an Exo Edition from Point of View quite soon after the introduction of the GeForce 8600 series.

Yes, the GeForce 8600 GTS itself is a very well positioned chip in terms of performance and price. The newcomer slices the performance spectrum right down the center from the GeForce 8800 GTX perspective. Yes indeed, in between you still have the GeForce 8800 GTS which comes in two formats, being just the difference in the amount of memory. But with the GeForce 8600 series you can have a DirectX 10 capable card with very nice performance at a damn nice price tag. Next to that you can expect from Point of View the usual, meaning excellent customer care and support services. At Point of View the customer service is of very high importance and a key factor towards their success throughout the years, with a very efficient RMA service and technical support.

We actually liked the Point of View GeForce 8600 GTS a lot as it offers decent performance, and you can unlock some extra potential. We got a very pleasant surprise when overclocking the GeForce 8600 GTS, and could reach a top speed of 770MHz core and 2250MHz memory. Yeah you saw that right, and on top of that the shader clock which controls the stream processors increased to 1620MHz as well. In fact, the Point of View GeForce 8600 GTS offers stellar performance, 256MB of memory, and features of the flagship GeForce 8800 GTX in a single slot solution. What more can you ask for?

Pros

• Outstanding Gaming Performance
• High Quality and Quiet Cooling
• Mircosoft DirectX 10 Ready
• Simultaneous HDR & AntiAliasing
• SLI Ready, Multi-GPU Enabled
• Unified Shader Architecture
• Amazing Overclocking Capability
• Competitive Pricing

Cons

• N/A

Point of View Europe - All Rights Reserved. (© http://www.mvktech.net)